On 13 December 2007, the European Investment Bank (EIB), via its Facilty for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), and Caisse d’Epargne Provence-Alpes-Corse, AlterMed’s initial subscribers, took part in the launch of AlterMed along with all other founding partners. The Management and Board of the IFC and the Banque Centrale Populaire du Maroc are also considering becoming founding subscribers of AlterMed.
Set up and managed by Viveris Management, AlterMed is a closed-end investment fund (Fonds Commun de Placement à risques) focusing on developing SMEs and leveraged buy-outs with high growth potential in the Mediterranean region. It has been launched at a crucial moment in the process of convergence taking place in the region, whose historical links are leading to the acceleration of growth and progressive intertwining of the region’s economies. SMEs are the main actors in this process and key to the development challenges facing the region, in which the private equity market is playing a strategic role. AlterMed forms part of this process and is designed to assist small businesses in the region with their development projects.
To help AlterMed position itself as a local private equity fund, a particular structure has been created in partnership with local management companies geared to the specific features of the different markets. To this end a network of investment teams in Rabat, Tunis and Istanbul has been formed.
EUR 75 million fund divided into four compartments
With a target size of EUR 75 million, AlterMed will take minority stakes in SMEs at the development and LBO stages in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Turkey. There are plans to expand AlterMed’s operations in Egypt.
This innovative fund will comprise three “master” compartments targeting particular geographical areas and a “feed” compartment:
- AlterMed Maghreb, focusing on Morocco
- AlterMed Alternative Private Equity Fund (APEF), mainly focusing on Tunisia and able to make occasional investments in Algeria and Egypt
- AlterMed Turkey, focusing on Turkey
- AlterMed Global, the feed compartment, which will provide access to a grouping of the three geographical compartments.
AlterMed’s founding subscribers and partners
The EIB is investing EUR 11 million in the Moroccan and Tunisian compartments (AlterMed Maghreb and AlterMed APEF). The IFC is also examining the possibility of investing up to EUR 11 million in those two compartments.
In Morocco, Banque Centrale Populaire, Mutuelle agricole marocaine d’assurances and Banque marocaine pour le commerce et l’industrie are helping to set up AlterMed’s Moroccan compartment and investment team in Rabat (Viveris Istithmar). In Tunisia, AlterMed will be managed by “Alternative Capital Partners”, which has been set up in partnership with local private equity professionals. For Turkey and Egypt, partnerships with local private equity players are currently being formed.
In order to provide assistance to AlterMed’s investment teams, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) is intending to make available its resources in the Mediterranean region.
About the European Investment Bank (EIB)
Created under the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and based in Luxembourg, the European Investment Bank is the EU’s financing institution. Its purpose is to provide long-term loans in support of private and public sector investment fostering the integration, cohesion and balanced development of the European Union.
Outside the EU, the EIB supports the European Neighbourhood Policy both in eastern Europe and Russia and in the nine partner countries on the southern flank of the Mediterranean through its dedicated investment facility FEMIP. For private equity operations, FEMIP invests Community budget resources. The EIB is also active in the countries that are candidates or potential candidates for joining the EU, in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and in Asia and Latin America.
About Viveris Management
With EUR 400 million of funds under management, Viveris Management is one of France’s leading managers of private equity funds for third parties and has developed a multiregional approach focused on unlisted SMEs. It has more than a hundred firms in its portfolio.
Viveris Management is part of the Caisse d’Epargne Group and has a staff of 45. It operates in mainland France, the overseas departments and territories and the southern Mediterranean countries in the main segments of the private equity market: high-tech venture capital, development capital and LBOs. It has developed a range of over 20 investment vehicles targeting both private savings and qualified investors.www.viverismanagement.com